Panic on Enugu-Port Harcourt road as gunmen attack bus, abduct travellers

Terror gripped commuters on Wednesday morning as armed gunmen reportedly abducted an unknown number of passengers along the Ezinnachi/Okigwe section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

According to eyewitnesses, the brazen attack occurred between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., when the criminals blocked the highway and intercepted unsuspecting travelers. The ambush was carried out without any resistance, as there were no security operatives present at the time of the incident.

A traveler who narrowly escaped the scene recounted his terrifying experience. Having departed Umuahia shortly before the attack, he revealed that his vehicle nearly drove into the ambush, but the driver quickly reversed direction upon sighting the roadblock, narrowly avoiding capture.

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“We escaped by divine grace. They stationed close to the hospital under construction after Ezinnachi before Okigwe. They shot some people and some vehicles were parked there. We don’t know the exact number of victims. Every vehicle is turning and running back to either Okigwe or Umuahia,” one of the passengers said.

At the time of filing this report, it was not yet clear if security operatives in Imo State had arrived at the scene.

The axis (between Okigwe and Ezinnachi) of late has become a hotbed.

It was observed, however, that about two security checkpoints around the area between Ezinnachi junction and Okigwe junction had been dismantled.

A new security checkpoint has been mounted a few metres after the Okigwe Roundabout, right at a busy area, leaving a large uninhabited stretch of the dual-carriage highway unpoliced.